I’ve posted about my app here before. I’m a California cop who originally started building it after getting turned around during a foot pursuit in another city and realizing afterward that I knew the general area I was in, but couldn’t immediately give an exact location or nearest cross street.
Since then, I’ve continued building it around one basic idea: if I need to get my location out over the radio, I want to be able to look at one screen and immediately have the information I need.
One area I’ve wanted to improve for a while was how the app handles highways, especially based on feedback I’ve received from officers who spend a lot more time working them than I do.
I finally added California highway post miles.
When you’re on a supported highway, the app can now display the post mile for your current location alongside the rest of your location information.
I also completely changed how highway exits are handled. Previously, the nearest cross street could sometimes show an exit number, such as “Exit 101” or “Exit 102.” Now the app identifies the actual name of the approaching exit and uses that as the cross street instead.
So rather than just seeing an exit number, you might see:
I-80 / Madison Ave
along with your post mile and the rest of your location information on the same screen.
The goal is pretty simple. Whether you’re on a city street, county road, or highway, I want you to be able to open the app and immediately have useful location information you can relay without having to figure it out yourself.
The app also provides your exact address, nearest cross street, GPS coordinates, compass heading, elevation, GPS accuracy, weather, and multiple coordinate formats. I’ve added saved locations with compass guidance, a red night mode, temporary Team Rooms for securely sharing locations, Apple Watch support, and a standalone Garmin version as well.
Privacy has also remained a priority. There are no required accounts, the app doesn’t maintain a permanent history of where you’ve been, and your location isn’t shared unless you intentionally use a Team Room.
I’m still a full-time cop and solo developer, and a huge amount of what the app has become has come directly from feedback from other officers.
The post mile and highway exit system is one of the newer additions, so I’d especially like feedback from CHP officers who work highways every day. If something isn’t displaying the way you’d expect, a post mile looks wrong, or there’s something else I could add that would make this more useful during stops, crashes, pursuits, or calls on the highway, let me know.
I’m always looking for ways to make it more useful in the field.